Thursday, February 27, 2014. Chaos and violence continue, the assault
on Anbar continues, Nouri doesn't have the forces to enter Falluja but
continues to pretend otherwise, Osama al-Nujaifi visits Erbil, Senator
Patty Murray fights for veterans and their families, and more.

Starting in the US with Senator Patty Murray.

That's Senator Patty Murray speaking on the floor of the Senate today
about a very important issue. For those who need or prefer text, here
are her remarks:

“On Tuesday I came here to the floor to discuss one issue we are rarely divided on in this building.And
that is our duty to keep the promise we’ve made to provide not only
care - but opportunity - to all those who’ve honorably served in our
nation’s Armed Forces.The
comprehensive veterans legislation before us today is really the test
for many members of Congress. Can we put politics aside for the good of
our nation’s veterans to keep
that promise?Can
we show these heroes that - despite our differences - we will work as
diligently toward getting them the benefits and care they’ve earned as
they have worked for our nation?

“Unfortunately
our colleagues on the other side of the aisle are indicating they’d
prefer to put politics over promises under the guise of an alternative
to this
bill. Given what we have seen recently on other bills supported by a
majority of Americans, I shouldn’t be surprised. But I truly did think
this bill would be a different story. Because it contains ideas from
both Democrats AND Republicans. Because this is
an issue that has historically united this body. And because we have
ALL pledged to do whatever it takes on behalf of our veterans. But once
again, our colleagues have decided to use unrelated issues to sour this
entire effort for the veterans and their families
who stand to benefit the most from this comprehensive legislation.

“Additionally,
with their alternative bill, they’ve stripped away life changing
programs for veterans who are looking to take the skills they’ve learned
from the battlefield to the boardroom. They’ve
decided to halt the expansion of opportunities for caregivers – who are
integral to the health and well-being of some of our most vulnerable
heroes. But among these – and many other – examples of the Republican
effort to derail this landmark legislation, there
is one issue I find most egregious: And that is their shameful
opposition to providing our catastrophically wounded heroes with access
to the reproductive services they so desperately need to start a
family.

“This
shouldn’t be a political issue – Because this is about giving veterans
who have sacrificed everything -- every option we have to help them
fulfill the simple dream of starting a family. As we all
know, our men and women in uniform have become increasingly susceptible
to reproductive, spinal and traumatic brain injuries due to the
changing weapons of war. But thanks to modern medicine, many of these
servicemembers are being kept alive and are returning
home. In fact, as of the New Year, there are 2,348
servicemembers who are living with reproductive, urinary or pelvic
injuries. And like so many of our veterans, these men and women come
home looking to return to their lives, to find employment, and
so often to start a family. Yet what they find when they go to the VA
is that the fertility services available don’t meet their complex
needs.

“In fact, veterans suffering from these injuries find that the VA is
specifically barred from
providing more advanced assisted reproduction techniques such as IVF.
They are told that despite the fact they have made such an extreme
sacrifice for our nation we cannot provide them with the medical
services they need to start
a family. Veterans like Staff Sergeant Matt Keil – and his wife Tracy.

“Despite
returning home from Iraq a quadriplegic, Staff Sergeant Keil and Tracy
started exploring the possibilities of starting a family together. But
because his injuries prevented him from having children
naturally, Tracy turned to the VA and began to explore her options for
fertility treatments. But because of the VA ban, they were turned away.
Out of options, the Keil’s decided this was important enough to them
that they were willing to pay out-of-pocket
for IVF treatment in the private sector – to the tune of almost $32,000
per round of treatment. Thankfully, Staff Sergeant Keil and Tracy
welcomed their twins Matthew and Faith into the world after just one
round of treatments.

“Tracy
told me, ‘The day we had our children something changed in both of us.
This is exactly what we had always wanted, our dreams had arrived. The
VA, Congress and the American People have said countless
times that they want to do everything they can to support my husband or
make him feel whole again and this is your chance. Having a family is
exactly what we needed to feel whole again. Please help us make these
changes so that other families can share in
this experience.’

“Tracy
and Matt are not alone. There are many men and women out there who
share this common thread of a desperate desire to fulfill their dream of
starting a family only to find the catastrophic wounds
they sustained while defending our country are now preventing them from
seeing that dream through.

“It
should not be this way. Unfortunately, Republicans are indicating they
will not join us in overturning this absurd and antiquated ban.
Apparently they’d rather our nation’s heroes spend tens of thousands
of dollars in the private sector to get the advanced reproductive
treatments they need to start a family. They don’t see the problem in
letting our veterans’ marriages dissolve because the stress of
infertility, in combination with the stresses of readjusting
to life after severe injury, driving their relationship to a breaking
point.

“Any servicemember who sustains this type of serious injury
deserves so much more. Because we came VERY close to making this
bill a reality last Congress. In fact, with Tracy Keil watching from the
gallery here, we unanimously passed this legislation.
Unanimously.

“But
here I am today, once again imploring Republicans to stand up and
explain to our men and women in uniform – who I know are paying very
close attention to this debate – And explain to them why they
want to turn their back on the catastrophic reproductive wounds that
have become a signature of these wars. On Tuesday, I spoke to a crowded
room of heroes from Disabled American Veterans – and told them the
heartbreaking story of the Keil Family and why we
need this critical legislation. And if their cheers and applause are
any indication, I’d say they wholeheartedly agree that our women
veterans deserve this, our male veterans deserve this, and our military
families deserve this.

“So
I’ve come to the floor today to ask my colleagues a simple question:
Are you willing to tell all those brave men and women -- that didn’t ask
questions when
they were put in harm’s way -- that you are going to let politics get
in the way of our commitment to them? The catastrophic wounds we have
seen from injuries in Iraq and Afghanistan have meant that our veterans’
dreams to start a family have been put on hold
because of the tremendous cost of IVF services. But we believe that’s a
cost of war that VA absolutely should cover and it’s unacceptable to
let unrelated issues stand in the way.

“Even
the major Veterans Service Organizations and their leaders have said
issues like Iran sanctions have no place in this comprehensive
veterans legislation. People like American Legion Commander Daniel
Dellinger who said, ‘Iran is a serious issue that Congress needs to
address, but it cannot be tied to S. 1982, which is extremely important
as our nation prepares to welcome millions of U.S.
military servicemen and women home from war.’

“Or
IAVA Founder and CEO Paul Rieckhoff, who called this comprehensive
legislation, ‘a game changer that will change the trajectory
for millions of veterans for decades to come.’

“As serious and timely as they may be, unrelated issues like Iran sanctions are calculated attempts to intentionally dismantle
our bipartisan effort to expand health care, education opportunities, employment and other benefits for our nation’s heroes.
We can’t allow our commitment to them to lapse or to get caught up in separate issues or political grandstanding.

“I’d
like to once again thank the Senator from Vermont and his staff for
their tireless work to work to bring this legislation here to the floor.

“I
hope our colleagues will reconsider opposing this common-sense step
that will give those who have sacrificed everything the reproductive
treatments they need to start a family.”

Good for Senator Murray.

But I'm really confused here because we've been attending House and
Senate Veterans Affairs Committee hearings for years and what Senator
Murray's calling for and backing has never been seen as controversial in
hearings. It's been seen as needed and no member of either Committee
over the years has ever uttered an objection in a hearing. So these
objections that are coming now? No one offered to the faces of veterans
and their families.

Senator Murray notes the Keil's in her statement today. And no one had
an objection when Tracy Keil appeared before the Senate Veterans Affairs
Committee and declared, "I'd like to
emphasize this statement: War time changes a family, it shouldn't take
away the ability to have one."

Tracy's husband is Iraq War veteran Matt Keil. She appeared before the
Senate Veterans Affairs Committee June 12. Senator Murray was the Chair
of the Committee then (she now chairs the Senate Budget Committee and
Senator Bernie Sanders now chairs the Senate Veterans Affairs
Committee). Murray had S. 3313, The Women Veterans and Other Health Care Improvement Act of 2012. to address these issue. We covered that hearing in the June 27th and June 28th snapshots and let's drop back so we can let Tracy Keil discuss why legislation is needed:

My husband Matt was shot in the neck while on patrol in
Ramadi, Iraq on February 24, 2007 just 6 weeks after we were married.
The bullet went through the right side of his neck, hit his vertebral
artery, went through his spinal cord and exited through his left
shoulder blade. Matt instantly because a quadriplegic. When I first
saw him 3 days after he was injured I was in shock, they explained to me
that he had a "Christopher Reeve type injury." He would be on a
ventilator for the rest of his life and would never move his arms or
legs.

Matt and I looked at each other in
his hospital room at Walter Reed and he asked me if I still loved him? I
said "baby you're stuck with me!" at that moment we knew that we would
be okay if we stayed in this together. I knew that we just needed to
work really hard to get Matt off his ventilator to increase his life
expectancy. Ultimately we moved to Craigh Hospital in Denver to be
closer to family support.

Four weeks to
the day of arriving at Craig Hospital in Denver, Matt was officially off
of his ventilator and we could truly concentrate on him doing physical
rehabilitation. Matt has regained about 10% function of his left arm
but not his hand. He was feeling good and getting used to his new
normal of being in a wheelchair and asking for help for everything.

It
was while we were at Craig Hospital that we started talking about
having a family. Craig doctors talked to us about in vitro fertilzation
and recommended some doctors for us to speak to when we were ready to
start a family. We started to get really excited that even though so
much had been taken away from Matt physically that we could still have
the future we always dreamed of.

My
husband is the most amazing man I have ever met, he is strong, honest
and loyal and he wanted us to both have everything we always wanted
before his injury and we agreed that this injury wasn't the end, it was
the beginning of a new life, and we were in this together.

We
had our whole lives ahead of us. Matt was just 24 when he was injured
and I was 28. We are very fortunate that he survived his injuries that
day and we made a promise to each other on our wedding day "For better
or worse, in sickness and in health" I meant every word and still do
today. It is a challenge for my husband and I everyday but we knew we
still wanted to start a family. I remember back when he was in
rehabilitation at Craig Hospital it's all we could talk about was when
we were going to be adjusted to our new normal and when we would we be
ready to have children. We always knew we had wanted children.

In
2008 we moved into a fully handicap accessible home built for us by
Homes For Our Troops. We were starting to feel like things were falling
into place in our lives. We felt like we were starting to get back on
track to where we were before Matt was injured.

His
injury unfortunately prevents him from having children naturally. In
mid 2008 I started asking the VA what services they could offer my
husband and I to assist us with fertility. I can remember hitting road
blocks at every turn. I decided to take things into my own hands and
write letters and make phone calls to try and get anyone to listen to us
that we needed help. Fertility treatments are very expensive and since
I had left my full time job we were still adjusting to living on one
income.

I felt helpless and hopeless and
thought that our dreams of having a family may never come true. The VA
finally said that they would cover the sperm withdrawal from my husband .
. . that costs $1,000 and that they would store the sperm for us at no
charge.

It was very difficult when I found
out there was no help available for us from the VA or Tricare. I felt
very defeated, sad, disappointed and in some ways I felt helpless. I
researched everything I could about how to get Tricare to cover some of
the costs but they couldn't because it was a direct result of my
husband's injury and that fell under the VA. The VA said that they had
no programs in place for this sort of thing. I even started asking non
profits to assist with the cost and they couldn't help due to the other
immediate needs of injured service members.

Why did Tracy and Matt suffer?

Because there was nothing in place to take their situation into account.
There are many other veterans families in the same situation. They're
not asking for a high rise or a shiny car, they just want to be able to
have a family. And they can. It is medically possible.

Matt Keil didn't say, "Hey, I want a vacation. I think I'll go to
Ramadi and work on my tan." The US government sent him to Iraq and that
is where he was injured. How dare anyone in Congress think they can
ignore his needs now.

And there was no objection in the Senate in 2012. The following year,
US House Rep Rick Larsen noted, "The Senate unanimously approved a
version of this bill authored by Sen.
Patty Murray last year, but the House did not act on the companion
legislation that Larsen had introduced before the end of the 112th
Congress. Murray reintroduced the Senate version of the bill earlier
this year." So in 2012, universal support and, two years later,
someone's 'rethought' it? Maybe they need to explain to the veterans?
Rick Larsen is a Democrat. He made his observation when he and
Republican House member Steve Stivers joined together to introduce
similar legislation in the House.

It also needs to be pointed out that DoD provides this service for
service members. It's just VA that's not providing it for veterans. It
is thought that the Iraq War and the Afghanistan War have produced
approximately 2,000 veterans who could utilize this service. Why are
they being denied it? How does this not fall under needed health care.

The costs would not 'break the bank' and it really is the right thing to do. To quote Tracy Keil one more time, "I'd like to
emphasize this statement: War time changes a family, it shouldn't take
away the ability to have one." Shame on anyone in the US Congress who can't grasp -- or refuses to grasp -- that.

It should also be noted that many outlets are running with usual claims
of Sunnis and blah blah. Why would Sadr City be attacked by Sunnis?
And the attack also comes after yesterday's report that Moqtada al-Sadr had left and returned to Iran for more religious studies.

Who knows who attacked Sadr City?

But the best guess anyone could make right now would be that a Shi'ite
group attacked and that possibly the increased danger in Sadr City is
why Moqtada left for Iran.

Moving to another topic, Anadolu Agency reports
Iraq's Speaker of Parliament Osama al-Nujaifi went to Erbil (in the
Kurdistan Region) today to meet with KRG President Massoud Barazni and
discuss the "tension between the sides [Baghdad and Erbil] over oil
exports and budget distribution." NINA reports Sadr bloc MP Bahaa al-Araji has talked about the visit, "Al-Araji told the National Iraqi News Agency / NINA / that Nujaifi’s
visit to the Kurdistan region came upon the authorization of the heads
of political blocs , who met with him in order to finally resolve the
standoff between the federal government and the Regional government. " Hiwa Barznjy (Niqash) explains the issues behind the conflict:

Conflict between Baghdad and Iraqi
Kurdistan over oil exports has resulted in something of a financial
crisis in the northern region. State employees haven’t been paid, MPs
are threatening to resign and there are rumours that Turkey was asked
for a loan. Negotiations are continuing but some senior politicians are
saying that Iraqi Kurdistan is ready for financial independence if a
compromise is not reached soon.

Negotiators from the semi-autonomous region
of Iraqi Kurdistan have visited Baghdad three times already this year.
They went there to discuss many of the seemingly-intractable conflicts
that the partially-independent region populated mainly by Iraqis of
Kurdish ethnicity is having with the rest of the country, as governed
from Baghdad.

The list of these conflicts is similar to
those of past years: The disputed areas of Iraq which the Iraqi Kurdish
say should belong to their region but which Baghdad says belong to Iraq
proper. The oil and gas law - Iraqi Kurdistan has one and Baghdad does
not. Who pays for the services of the Iraqi Kurdish military, the
Peshmerga. Iraqi Kurdistan’s share of national income, based on oil
earnings.

Nouri al-Maliki has been unable to stop the KRG's various oil and gas
deals because there's no national oil and gas law. Along with stomping
and screaming like an angry child, Nouri's also attempted to use the
country's budget to blackmail the Kurds. Press TV (link is text and video) notes:The president of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region
says Baghdad’s decision to withhold the budget is a declaration of war
against Kurdistan. President Massoud Barzani’s comments come as Iraqi
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki continues to withhold Kurdistan’s share
of the national budget. That includes monthly wages of more than $700m
for hundreds of thousands of government employees.

Rudaw adds, "The
Iraqi government has suspended the flights of two small airlines that
operate between Europe and the Kurdistan Region, an airport official in
Erbil said, the latest in an oil feud between Baghdad and the autonomous
Kurds." NINA reports:The President of Kurdistan, Massoud Barzani said: "The source of the
problems is (breach the constitution and the monopoly of power and the
failure to provide security)."Barzani added, during a meeting
with the Director General of the Department of Middle East and North
Africa in the French Foreign Ministry, Francois Giroux, according to a
statement to the presidency of the Kurdistan region, " getting Iraq away
from all the meanings of the state and non- delivery of services and
the failure to provide security is the result of breaching the
Constitution and the monopoly of power."Barzani expressed his
hope that "the political parties' commitment by the constitution and
hold elections for the House of Representatives opens avenues towards
resolving the problems in Iraq."

Since sending the Iraqi army to dismantle a protest camp in Ramadi,
the capital of Anbar, in December, Iraqi security forces have been
embroiled in a standoff with tribal fighters, some backed by al-Qaeda
types who are also fighting in neighbouring Syria. From a former
American base, the Iraqi army has mortared the outskirts of the city of
Fallujah, sending over 300,000 civilians fleeing in the biggest
displacement since the civil war of 2006-2007.Iraq’s government
bills the battle as a fight against al-Qaeda rather than a struggle
against Sunni Iraqis who say the government arrests and executes its
young men and has shut it out of power. Unable to speed up delivery of
American attack helicopters, the Iraqi government has persuaded the
American government to lease it some. Both Iraqi and foreign journalists
are banned from the area.

All Iraq News notes
that Sabah Karhot, Chair of the Anbar Provincial Council, is declaring
that Nouri's extended a 'cease-fire,' "'The duration granted by the
Prime
Minister, Nouri al-Maliki to suspend the military operations in Fallujah
city, was extended for a week.''

What a load of nonsense.

Nouri did a 72-hour move he called a 'cease-fire' (one he called '72 hours' as well) and it wasn't (see Monday's snapshot). Civilians in Anbar were injured and killed by the military's bombings.

Get honest, it's insulting at this point to lie so.

Nouri doesn't have to forces to enter Falluja.

He's been threatening to count to three and turn this car around, he means it, for about five weeks now.

Why?

Because it's past time to enter Falluja.

But he can't. The military keeps deserting on him. They don't want to
go in. I doubt they're 'scared,' it's like Nouri 2008 attack on Basra.

That resulted in mass exodus from the ranks. They self-checked out
because they didn't want to go hand-to-hand with other Iraqis, they
didn't see signing up for the Iraqi military meaning they had to kill
Iraqis. It's happened again. It's the least reported development in
the assault on Anbar, the defections. There was a very high profile one
over the weekend but AP, Reuters, AFP all ignored it. All Iraq News reported, "The chairman of the military council of Anbar, Ali Hatim al-Sulaiman, fled of Anbar to unknown destination."

Nouri's a War Criminal. He's not being nice or doing a 'cease-fire.'
He's had an excuse one week after another. And the reason for these
excuses? He doesn't have the forces to enter Falluja successfully.

The US has long supported the Iraqi government with arms, though the
Iraqi government has committed serious, widespread abuses against its
own people in the name of counterterrorism. That has proven ineffective
in combating terrorism but has stoked resentment. Psaki acknowledged
that the US has “providedthe Iraqi military and security forces with
more than $15 billion in equipment, services, and training,” and
recently delivered to Iraq “Hellfire missiles and hundreds of small arms
along with large quantities of small arms and tank ammunition,” but did
not address the copious evidence giving cause for concern that Iraq
will use these weapons to continue abuses.The State Department’s own 2012 Human Rights report noted that
“Human rights violations committed by [Iraqi Security Forces] personnel
were rarely investigated, and perpetrators were seldom punished,” and
that the government “did not take widespread action to reform security
forces to improve human rights.”The new Human Rights Watch research about
the treatment of women in Iraq’s criminal justice system, for example,
shows that security forces frequently subject detained women to torture
and ill-treatment, including the threat of sexual abuse. In early
January, Anbar residents told
us that the army’s mortar fire on residential neighborhoods had killed
at least 25 residents in the first few days of fighting in Fallujah.

In November, we documented how
Iraqi security forces, including agents from Special Weapons and
Tactics [SWAT] in the Counterterrorism Service [CTS]—precisely the
security forces who, along with the army, are at the forefront of the
fighting in Anbar—abused residents by surrounding and closing off
majority Sunni neighborhoods, illegally raiding homes and carrying out
mass arrests. Since 2010 we have repeatedly reported that security
forces including SWAT, Federal Police, and the army use unlawful force against peaceful protesters; carry out illegal arrests, interrogations, and detentions, and systematically use torture during interrogations.

Much of this book, in fact, can be read as a passionate polemic
against Al Maliki who, with the Americans, must surely take a great
share of the responsibility for the unholy mess in which Iraq is now
stewing. Instead of seeking to build an Iraq that eschewed
sectarianism, al-Ali writes, “his sole concern became to capture the
state and to divide and conquer opponents, to remain in power for as
long as possible”. By those limited, cynical criteria, so typical of
Iraqi politics in living memory, and perhaps far beyond, Al Maliki’s
efforts have been an unqualified success: parliament emasculated; armed
forces shunted under his direct control; the judiciary nobbled; critics
intimidated and silenced.